General overview
What is Themis?
Themis is a program for countering laptop theft developed in collaboration by the UW-Madison Police Department and the UW-Computer Science department.
How does it work?
Themis runs on a 'bait' laptop which is placed in a location where it is likely to be stolen. Themis relays to a central server information such as location and webcam images. This information is monitored in a nearby location through the Themis web interface. Once the laptop has been stolen a notification shows up on the interface, at which point the authorities move to apprehend the thief. See this file.
Funding
Themis is funded by a grant from the National Sciences Foundation (under grant IIS-0929988), and is powered by the Locomatix cloud services.